Official Sports Card Bubble of 2020

It is official, people have gone off the deep end due to the COVID19 pandemic. Baseball cards and sports cards in general have reached bubble valuations in the past 9 months. Just comparing PSA prices realized in February 2020 to December 2020 shows how high prices have gone up and how fast.

There are sellers running out of low grade stock and selling high grade cards at 5x to 20x the price they were 9 months ago, especially in basketball cards. However some cards seem to appreciating at a more sustainable pace than others, like in baseball. For instance a Jackie Robinson 1954 PSA 7 averaged $$700-$900 and a PSA 5 averaged $200-$300 in February to early March 2020.

As of today, December 22, 2020 the average price is between $1100-$1500 and $400-$600.

The truly centered and unaltered cards fetching the highest premiums from savvy new collectors. Overpriced cards changing hands often in high volume is common this year.

As with all bubbles though, they deflate. Some quickly and some slowly. It is my opinion and simple market physics that the cards that jumped prices the highest the quickest will fall the most just as quickly, while the sustained rise in prices of some cards such as higher grade 5.5+ of iconic early Jackie Robinson, early Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, and Ted Williams may not deflate much at all.

As with any trading, do your due diligence. Population count vs. popularity trends vs. Actual rarity tend to get collectors in a price traps. Liken prices to stocks but different. Know that what caused this dynamic will eventually ease so recognize when to buy and sell. Like stocks, the sports cards market has its seasonal ebbs and flows. Buy low and sell high. Treasure the rare gems that strike your fancy and keep the hobby sustainable because in the end someone will have a better one or someone got it cheaper.

Reports of Fake or Altered cards in PSA and BGS slabs are skyrocketting in 2020.

ALERT: Fake – Trimmed – Altered – Graded Cards by PSA or BGS flooding consignment services and eBay.

2020 RED ALERT

This is the alert from sportscardradio.com.

Being this is the year of the tulips in sports cards the fakers and scammers are in full swing. Being in PSA or BGS slab doesn't mean it is real or unaltered. They are only good as their last big miss. Think twice maybe three times before making any large purchase online. You should look at the card carefully, ask the questions, compare true originals, visit a card shop and look at them.Take a lot of time before the purchase. If anything feels off. Stop and walk away. Quite a few on eBay are listed in the article below. I stick with raw cards because they are easier to identify during some years against reprints, fakes, and altered cards. Once you see an original in good form in a slab then compare that with others... the red flags are easy to identify. Same with identifying raw card authenticity. Do you due diligence.

Below is the link to a riveting article and sources of good information and draws scrutiny perhaps mostlynfrom scammers and players in the card collecting world.

http://www.sportscardradio.com/alert-fake-trimmed-altered-graded-cards-by-psa-or-bgs/

Numerous cards have been found to be fake or altered in graded slabs. Grading is only as good as the grader and at the volume people are sending in cards, don't expect quality grades. So many cards that are off center still get Mint Gem 10 while another grader may give it a MC or OC flag. This is rampant especially with modern cards. Most young collectors don't care about centering while the most scrutinizing collectors do.